The Demise Of Pit Barbecue

November 10, 1994|By Carol Haddix, Tribune Staff Writer.

The long, slow cooking of meat over coals may soon be a thing of the past, a victim of fire codes and impatience, says Keir Heilberg, who owns the only American pit barbecue restaurant in England (Bubba's Barbecue in Spitalfields Market, London).

Pit-barbecued ribs traditionally were cooked outdoors over a hardwood fire for hours, usually in small, ramshackle operations. A simple basting with cider vinegar and mustard was all that was needed for flavor, Heilberg says.

"For 20 years I had to live without proper barbecue, then I moved to Baltimore (which was) 20 years ago a center of culinary excellence at least as far as rib joints go." The greatest of these, Heilberg says, was the cumbersomely named "Homer Hull's Dixie Pig, the King is here, and Church of God, the Gate of Heaven Church." The Dixie Pig burned to the ground.

Few restaurants these days have the know-how, the equipment and the soul for the job like Homer Hull, Heilberg says. New, factory-like production methods that use fast-cooking electric or gas grills can produce a facsimile of the real thing, but it can't compare in flavor or texture to the old product, he says.